


Goodbye, My Almost Lover

by not_a_leopard



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ash dies, Blood, M/M, that last scene but possibly sadder, what if ash didn't die in the library?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:14:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26256988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_a_leopard/pseuds/not_a_leopard
Summary: 'My soul is always with you.'Ash knows in that moment that he has to see Eiji again, and he'll go through hell to get there.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 14
Kudos: 36





	Goodbye, My Almost Lover

‘My soul is always with you.’

Ash’s eyes flicked between Eiji’s words and the plane ticket. It took him moments to figure out what to do, the gang would be fine, they were more than capable of leading themselves, there was no need for him to stick around. When he tried to think of what was still tying him to this place, to New York, a flash of purple hair and his own reflection in a pair of sunglasses greeted him. Swallowing down his grief, Ash took a deep breath and started running. Shorter is gone, there’s nothing left to keep him here.

My soul belongs to you, Eiji.

All the air was taken from his lungs as pain sprouted through his abdomen, tears pricking his eyes. It took him a moment to register the knife planted firmly in his stomach, he heard Shorter’s name through the pain and Lao’s sneakers pounding the pavement as he collapsed against the wall.

Pain. The gang. An ambulance. Eiji.

Eiji.

Gritting his teeth Ash pushed himself up off the wall, pulling the belt of his coat around him as tight as he could. After a few agonising minutes of walking he finally managed to hail a cab. He jumped in, grunted JFK, and prayed that the black turtleneck he was wearing was thick enough to hide the bloodstain slowly seeping through. The driver tried to keep up a casual conversation but thankfully gave up after a few very pointed grunts. He didn't care about the weather or the sports teams, it didn't matter. All that mattered was getting to Eiji, that was all that would ever matter now. Taking Eiji’s hand and stepping on a plane to a new life together, with no more pain and suffering. Eiji learning to cope with his ankle injury and Ash taking it easy to not reopen his wound. A new life in Izumo. The plane ticket said Tokyo, he noticed, so it must be a fair journey away. Maybe they could go sightseeing before they traveled back to Eiji’s hometown. Compare the city to New York, the street foods and the fashion. It would be fun, listening to Eiji speak his native language, seeing the smug little smirk on his face as he notices Ash struggling to keep up. He had been learning to speak Japanese, secretly. It was meant to be a surprise for Eiji, Ash would start speaking fluent Japanese one day and see how long it took Eiji to realise. Eiji's eyes would light up and he'd jump on Ash in excitement. It was the least he could do for him after a year of Eiji struggling through with his broken English, as endearing as it was.

Ash hissed in pain as the car hit a pothole, holding a hand to his side.

“Sorry.”

With a sigh Ash went back to his thoughts, letting them to drift to Izumo. Back at Cape Cod Eiji had told him that the place reminded him of Izumo. It might be nice, he thought, to live somewhere like his own hometown without the constant lingering memories. He could dedicate a spot to remembering Griffin... And Shorter... And Skip. A tree maybe, a tree for each of them, or maybe a garden. Something so that they could look out of their kitchen window in the morning, mugs in hand and take a quiet moment to remember them all. Shorter’s death had been the hardest on them both, and Ash decided right there that they would dedicate this new beginning to him. If they couldn’t live in a world with him, they could create a life to make him proud. Ash scoffed at his own damn sentimentality, definitely Eiji's influence. Eiji had been so domestic back at the apartment, always cooking and cleaning, keeping the spirits of the whole gang up simply by being there. And then, staying awake till the dead of night, not even resting after his days work because he had to know Ash was home safe. It wouldn’t be like that, not anymore, they could go to sleep together, safe in each others arms, with no fear of what the next day might bring. It would be peaceful, Eiji would continue to work with Ibe during the day, Ash would... Well that was open for consideration, but the point was they would be happy and safe and together. That was all they really needed.

“Hey, kid,” the cab driver barked. “Hey, wake up, we’re here!”

Ash blinked a few times before he remembered where ‘here’ was. 

The airport. Tokyo. Izumo. Eiji.

Eiji.

He threw a handful of cash into the front seat and stumbled out of the cab, clutching his side. Swaying a little, he held onto the side of the car to steady himself before slowly walking towards the airport. The cab had parked about a 5 minutes walk away from the actual entrance, but Ash gritted his teeth and heaved himself in the direction of his new beginning. The closer he got to the airport steps the more commotion he could hear, just barely above the ringing in his ears. People were, crying? Screaming? It didn’t matter, he was almost there. He was at the bottom of the steps now. He climbed one step, and another. Then there was a person, stood in front of him with terror on their face. Confused he followed their eyes down to his abdomen, he pulled his hand away to reveal a red stain on the light fabric of his coat, on his hands.

No, not now, he begged. Please not now, I'm so close.

His vision started to blur, as he stumbled forward and gripped onto the person in front of him. Shakily, they held him back, Ash noticed the tears streaming down their face as they asked what they should do.

“Eiji,” he breathed out.

“What?”

His final breath.

“Eiji,” he stuttered out. “My soul, belongs with Eiji.”

His legs finally gave way.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I cried a lot while writing this so um, please enjoy and any comments would be greatly appreciated as i'm pretty new at this! 
> 
> (also this whole thing is basically set up for an eiji idea i had that depends on ash not dying in the library so there will be a part two of that at some point but idk when)
> 
> OH AND THE TITLE IS INSPIRED BY THIS SONG THANK YOU TO MEL FOR THE VERY SAD SONG CHOICE:  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/71ehTADpxs85ULrZgSEKCy?si=1I-c3uvyRNuUcrCwWXHcjg


End file.
